Change Management Resources

We will post, from time to time, items we find interesting, thought provoking and useful.

Ethics as a Business Process

I propose that ethics is a business process, a model whereby we choose between competing moral and/or economic values. The definitions and proposition are fully explained in the paper on this site. Click on the navigation button to the left, or on the title above.

Competing Moral Values

What would you do? Imagine yourself in this dire situation: a very windy, cold, and dangerous storm had been raging for hours. As you are inching your way along through the maelstrom you spot three people at a bus stop: An old lady who was about to die, an old friend who had once saved your life, and the perfect mate of your dreams. Who knows when the next bus might come?

Knowing that you can only take one person in the car, which one would you choose to save from the storm? Would you take the old lady to save her from certain death? Would you repay the friend who once saved your life and perhaps never find the perfect lover again? Or would you choose to take the mate of your dreams with you and thus have a happy future?

This ethical dilemma (ethics being a process whereby we choose between competing moral values), was actually used as part of a job application. The candidate who was hired, out of 200 applicants, had little trouble answering this question. How about you? Think before you answer for yourself, then click on the icon below to see how the successful applicant chose to respond.

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